Spring 2020

While most companies are shifting to having their employees work from home, this new norm has changed the training industry from providing programs onsite to leading them virtually. Because of prior adaptation for past global clients, Accordence has refined and expanded its virtual, instructor-led program offerings for Zoom and other web-based platforms. Interactivity through practice and application remains high with breakout rooms, video clip viewing and assessment, chat discussions and good old raising a hand and speaking. Sharing presentations, planners, and other materials has never been easier with the shared screen aspect by facilitators and attendees alike. Since the requirement to pivot in the spring, and with the ease of training online, there is every good reason to continue professional development to honor and retain employees at all levels. And there is no time or cost spent on travel!

Fall, 2019

Accordence Founder, Provost of Menlo College and former Director of CNDR, Grande Lum, is collaborating with Bertram Levine on a new book to be released in Fall 2020, America’s Peacemakers: The Community Relations Service and Civil Rights. This book tells the story of a federal agency within the Department of Justice that assists and mediates in communities as they reconcile and recover from discrimination, hate crimes, and unrest based on issues like race and religion.

May 2018

We are excited to share that Accordence’s Founder and Senior Advisor has joined Menlo College as their new Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. https://www.menlo.edu/news/grande-hamilton-lum-named-as-menlo-college-vice-president-for- academic-affairs-provost/\

April 2018

We are excited to announce that Accordence’s Founder and Senior Advisor, Grande Lum, alongside several colleagues from the Divided Community Project, received the American Bar Association’s John W. Cooley institutional  Lawyer as Problem Solver Award within the ABA’s Dispute Resolution Section, with recognition for their work on many pilot projects in communities in conflict, where Mr. Lum served as Director.

Fall, 2017

• Throughout 2017, he presented at a number of other conferences on the following topics:

• Salzburg Global Seminar, Hong Kong School of Global Leadership Launch: Leadership for Inclusive Future in Hong Kong, Bridging Divides for an Inclusive Hong Kong: Conflict Mediation and Effective Advocacy and How to Create Successful Cross-Sector Interactions.

• University of Missouri, The First Amendment on Campus: Identifying Principles for Best Practices for Managing and Resolving Disputes, Dispute Resolutions Perspectives.  College of Commercial Arbitrators, National Conference, Law Enforcement Behavior and Community Tensions.

• Federal Judicial Center and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Symposium: The Nature and Practice of Civil Discourse. (Convened by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy) 

• Stanford University Pre-Collegiate Program, Summer Institute, Building Apps for Divided Communities. 

• University of Hawaii-Manoa, Conflict Management for Educators Graduate Seminar. Mediation and Peacebuilding in the Community.

February 2017

In February, Accordence Founder and Senior Advisor, Grande Lum was the keynote at his alma mater, Harvard Law School’s Harvard Negotiation Law Review 2017 Symposium with the theme Reflections on the Intersection of Alternative Dispute Resolution and Activism. In his presentation, Mr. Lum wove lessons he learned from a number of esteemed ADR representatives, mediators, and other influential figures around the globe that he had the honor to know and work with throughout the stepping stones of his career. Expounding on three key roles for the activist lawyer, he concluded with the notion that: “When any of us can help individuals to operate as their best selves, real progress can be made through legislation, litigation and negotiation. All of us can bring genuine compassion forward in meeting the shared goal of creating a more just society in fast moving times.”

October 2016

Accordence is pleased to announce that its Founder and Senior Advisor, Grande Lum has been awarded the honor of Outstanding Contribution to the Field by The Mediation Society. Every year The Mediation Society honors a Northern California dispute resolution professional for that person’s outstanding contributions to the field of mediation of commercial disputes and civil litigation.  Mr. Lum received this award during his tenure as Director of the Divided Community Project (DCP) at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.